


Tropical Paradise... Or?

by GhostwithShotgun



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, I'm Bad At Tagging, Multi, bit fluffly, holiday cruise gone wrong, i think, pretty slow build, stuck on deserted islands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-20 22:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4805402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostwithShotgun/pseuds/GhostwithShotgun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thomas and his friends are going for a day out in a boat when they're in the Philippines for New Year's. What they don't expect, though, is to get caught in a storm. They try to stick together, but Thomas gets washed away by the water. When he comes to again, he's alone on a beach. But where are his friends? And how will they get back home?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Castaway

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this chapter is pretty much only Thomas, but I'll add more of the characters as the story continues further. This is loosely based on one of the Sims games, but I only took the story idea and surroundings from the game pretty much, so I hope it won't be too bad.  
> Enjoy! ^^

Thomas carefully sat up, his vision slowly clearing. The first thing he noticed was that he was back on land, and not in the water. That was always good. The second thing he noticed, was how incredibly _exhausted_ his whole body felt. it was almost comparable to having been run over by trucks, several times. He knew he would have a lot of bruises to be careful with. A growl from his stomach made him aware of the hunger gnawing at him, and that he had no idea how long it had been since lunch. He looked up at the sky, immediately going into survival mode. Going by the sun, he guess the clock was probably about 9-10pm, but it could be two days since the storm. He had no idea. 

He stood up, supporting himself on a huge rock next to him. He tried to take it easy, but he still got dizzy from standing up too quickly. He looked around to take his surrounding in.

He was, unsurprisingly, on a beach. It wasn't too big, but it was around 150 feet long, and 20 feet wide. There was a huge cliff that stopped him from seeing much further, and there was some vegetation by the cliff. There were a few palm trees growing on the beach too, along with some bamboo. There was a path next to the cliff, that Thomas guessed led further into land, but it was overgrown by thorns. He decided to wait until the next morning to explore, and simply focus on getting something to eat and try and get a fire going.

His belly growled again, reminding him that he was, in fact, still hungry. He spotted a coconut on the ground and went to pick it up. He suddenly remembered how hard coconuts are, and felt in his pockets, praying that he still had something useful left. He felt something hard and cold and picked it out. He let out a triumphant sound when he saw that it was a knife. He would make it pretty far when he could cut things. He inwardly thanked Rachel for telling them to take knives and some rope and stuff, just in case.

_Rachel._

He had completely forgotten about his friends! He knew he would have spotted them if they were on the same beach, but he still took a look around again. He stabbed the coconut as hard as he could to get it open, and while he drank the milk he tried to think about where they could be. Of course it was unlikely that all of them had made it, but he had survived, so at least a couple of the others should have made it, too. Their yacht had tipped over, so they had all fallen into the water on the same side. And more likely than not, the sea had brought them the same way as him, so they were probably not too far of, if they survived. As he finished the last of the milk and went to find a stone to crack the coconut completely open, he decided to try and find his friends while exploring. 

**************

The wood finally caught fire, and Thomas let out a winning noise. He had found some driftwood in the sand, and then he had been working on getting the fire started. The sun was gone by now, and the sky was filled with stars. He hugged his knees and looked up. He could see a bit smoke making its way up, but the sky was clearer than he had ever seen it before. There were millions of stars scattered all over the place. Way more than he could have imagined. It almost made him dizzy. The beautiful sky, along with the heat of the fire and the sounds of nature... It almost felt cozy. The only thing missing was the sound of his friends' laughter and jokes. He would probably soon start missing the comforts of home, but right at this moment, he was content. . He got up, and put some more wood on the fire before walking over to one of the palm trees. 

He started to climb it, and surprised himself when he managed to stay up and not fall to the ground again immediately. When he got to the top, he hugged the tree tightly with his legs and his left arm. He used the other arm to get the knife out of his pocket, and then started to cut at the leaves. He wanted something to rest his head on while he slept, and he was not about to use a rock. When he had cut a few down, he slid down the tree. It burned a bit on his hands, but it wasn't too bad. He collected the palm fronds and put them together in a bundle. He moved back to the fire, put the fronds down and laid down. As soon as he got as comfortable as he could, he relaxed and gave in to the exhaustion.

**************

He woke up shivering. He hadn't expected the fire to last until he woke up, so he wasn't surprised when there were only ashes left. What did surprise him, though, was the cold temperature. Sure, it wasn't really winter-temperatures he was dealing with, but it was still a bit chilly compared to what he had gotten used to. The sky was a light shade of grayish lilac, so the sun wasn't up quite yet. He was starting to feel hungry, but his stomach wasn't growling at him yet, so he decided to try to make a spear out of bamboo and hopefully catch a fish or two. 

He got up, and got the fire started again. If he got fish, he wanted to be able to cook it immediately. When the flames were high enough that he trusted the fire to stay alive by itself, he went over to the bamboo he had spotted yesterday. He cut down one of them, and then sharpened it with his knife. He left the knife by the fire, and then walked into the water, slowly to not scare the fish away. He raised his arm, and waited for the right moment to strike. He was happy to notice that there was a lot of fish in the water. 

After trying, and failing miserably, five times, he managed to catch one. It wasn't the largest fish he had seen, but it would do as breakfast. He got out of the water, and sighed happily when he discovered that it had already become warmer, and his numb legs started to wake up again. He got his knife, and found a rock where he could prepare his breakfast. He cut its head off as precise as he could, and then cut the belly open. He allowed himself to wrinkle his nose since no one was around. It wasn't too bad, but it still wasn't nice having a creature's blood all over your hands. He got the intestines out and then took a small piece of bamboo that he spiked the fish on before sticking it into the fire. 

While he ate, he walked over to the thorns to try and find the best way through them. It didn't seem to exist a path that was better or worse, so he decided that he might as well go straight through it. He went back to the beach to get his knife, and then he walked back to the thorns. He tried to use his knife as little as possible because he wanted it to stay sharp, but sometimes he had to use it to get a thorny branch out of the way to be able to continue. He worked his way through it for about 30 minutes, and it wasn't exhausting in the same way that exercising was, but it ripped his clothes and skin. By the time he finally made it to the other side, he had small cuts all over his legs and arms, and holes everywhere in his short. He looked up, and saw that he had come to a jungle. There were paths going in different directions, but they didn't look like they had been used for a while, so Thomas doubted that anyone lived there anymore. Thomas spotted a banana tree, and really wished he had a backpack right now. That would have been very helpful. He went over and picked three bananas down before following one of the paths, the one that went right through the jungle. He could gather food and materials on his way "home", right now he wanted to explore as much of the place as possible. 

He followed the path, and it went straight on until two cliffs arrived. Then it went on in-between them. It was pretty narrow, with just enough space for one person to walk through it without being pressed to the stone. Thomas went forward, and was surprised with how light it was. It wasn't as light as the beach had been, but the sun shone down between the cliffs and provided light enough to see where you were going. It wasn't long until he reached the end of the path, and came to another beach. Not too far away from the beach, he could see and island. And even further away he could see another one. This beach was bigger than the other one, and by the water there were two stone pillars that looked like an ancient pier of some sort. A movement in the corner of his eye caught Thomas' attention. he turned to look and... _Minho._ Minho was standing underneath a palm tree, eating a coconut. Minho was alive! Thomas had never been happier to see his friend.

"Hey, Min!" he shouted, and apparently that startled Minho because the Asian jumped and dropped his food. He turned around, and gaped at the sight of Thomas. Then he flashed him a huge smile and walked towards him.

"Thomas! I've never been happier to see your ugly face!" he shouted back, and Thomas grinned. He pulled Minho into a hug when they were close enough to each other. 

"Seen anyone of the others?" Minho asked, and Thomas' smile faltered a bit when he shook his head. He looked questioning at his friend, but Minho also shook his head.

"How much of the island have you seen?" Minho asked, and Thomas realized that yes, they were on an island. _Stranded on an deserted island. How fun._

"Just another beach, and the jungle. What about you?" he asked, and Minho grinned. But the grin locked its usual confidence and energy.

"Just this beach. Haven't been able to make myself move away from here." he said, and Thomas flashed him a smile.

"Well, let's go together then. Exploring is way more fun with company." he joked, and Minho huffed out a laugh. But when Thomas grabbed his wrist to drag him along towards the second patch leading to the beach, he didn't protest. 

This path was nicer than the one between the cliffs, and not very long. They came to some sort of lagoon, with a waterfall and a shipwreck. Thomas knew they had to get as much out of the wreck as they could and dragged Minho along with him.

"Look for loose pieces of wood. We need it for fires." he said, and Minho simply nodded. It felt strange for Thomas to see his friend so down and exhausted, but he guessed that was a normal reaction to getting stuck on an island. They searched the wreck, and threw all the pieces they could find in a pile on the ground. When they considered themselves done, Thomas searched for other things they could use, while Minho sat on the ground, and found some raspberries by the waterfall. He motioned for Minho to get over there, and soon they were both stuffing their mouths. Minho smiled, and looked more like himself again. Thomas also discovered that the waterfall had drinkable water, so they drank as much as they could. Thomas hadn't even realized just how thirsty he was, but now he was aware of that and had also done something about it.

Minho burped loudly and then let out a content sigh.

"This was great. I feel better already. D'you think there's more to explore? I mean, an island can't be too big." he commented and Thomas nodded.

"Yeah. If you could carry the wood back to the beach, I'll go that way to see if there's more places to search through. I'll be back soon." he said, and Minho nodded as he went to pick the wood up. Thomas went to follow another path, and it wasn't very long and simply led back to the jungle. He picked bananas enough for the both before returning to Minho.

When he got back, Minho had started to get a fire going, and Thomas helped him. Soon, they were sitting next to their camp fire while eating bananas. Thomas watched the closest island, and tried to figure out a way to make a boat or raft or something to get there. He was sure they didn't have any more of their friends on this island, but they could be on the other one. The hardest part was that neither he or Minho was very creative or good at building things. They were the sporty persons in their group of friends. Gally was the one who was good at building things.

But he was confident he and Minho would figure out a way to find their friends.


	2. Ready to Go

"So, how will we do this?" Thomas asked. It was the morning two days after his reunion with Minho. They had managed to make a temporary bag out of the shirt Minho had been wearing, and they had filled it with different kinds of fruit. They now had bananas, starfruit, papaya, mango and grapefruit. They had also managed to catch some fish for dinner last night. They did pretty good, if Thomas said so himself. Now their only problem was how they would find their friends, and then how to get back home.

"It's not too far, and we could probably swim. But I saw a shark out there last night, so I'd rather not. I don't know about you, but I'd like my body to be as intact as possible." Minho replied while scraping the last edible bits out of his coconut with his thumb. Thomas snorted.

"Glad you still have your priorities sorted. What should we do then? Build a raft?" it was meant as a sarcastic remark, but Minho perked up.

"That's exactly what we're going to do! But how?" he furrowed his eyebrows and looked focused. Thomas decided that they might as well at least try to come up with something.

"Well, firstly, we would need trees. We could try and bring down a few with just force, but I think that would leave us too exhausted to do anything else, considering out few options for food." he thought out loud, and Minho nodded in agreement and seemed to think even harder.

"We would need an axe to get anywhere." he finally stated, and Thomas agreed. They would need an axe. But they didn't have one, and he didn't know how to make one either. Once again, he wished Gally was with them. Or maybe Brenda. She was great at survival stuff. Minho seemed to have the same idea.

"Man, I wish Gally was here. Or Brenda. Or Newt. They're way better than us." he sighed, and then stood up and stretched his hand out toward Thomas.

"Give me the knife. I remember something from one of those extreme survival things Newt watches, and I'll try to make an axe. You can figure out what else we need for the shucking raft. And get us some fish while you're at it." he said, and Thomas didn't feel like arguing so he grabbed the knife from inside his pocket and gave it to Minho. While Minho went for the jungle, Thomas grabbed one of the two spears and went to do something productive. It was pretty interesting how quickly he had started to get used to this life. He was already getting better at fishing, and he wasn't as shocked by the temperature differences either.

He walked until the water was about knee-level, and there he stayed and raised his spear. He could see something moving close to the bottom. He couldn't quite make out what, but it was bigger than the usual small fish so he decided to go for it. He studied where the creature was going, aimed, and then struck the spear down at it as hard as he could. He let out a surprised noise when he felt that he had actually hit whatever it was. I carefully pulled his spear back, and the creature followed. It was a huge fish! It wasn't like shark-sized, but it was big, and looked edible. Thomas grabbed it the best he could, and brought it back to land. He put it on a rock, and cursed Minho for taking their only knife. Of course Minho hadn't listened to Rachel, and had just brought candy which he had lost at sea. Thomas muttered grumpily while he looked for something sharp to cut the fish open with. 

Close to the shore, he found a sharp seashell and decided that it wouldn't get much better than that. He went back to the fish, pressed the edge of the shell to its belly. He was surprised by how easy it was to actually cut. Of course it worked better with a knife, but this worked too. He scraped the intestines out, grabbed them with a banana leaf and threw them into the water as food for the other fish. Then he wrapped the fish up in more banana leafs to keep it at least slightly wet until Minho came back, or Thomas got hungry. 

The day was getting hot, so Thomas decided to take his shirt off. It was the only one he had, so it would only be good for it to get a day off. He sat down by the fire and started his other task: decide what else they would need. They would need something to tie the trees together, but luckily the jungle was full of vines so that wouldn't be a problem. They would need paddles or something like that, and he didn't quite know how they would make those. They could take some branches and tie a bunch of leaves to them, but he wasn't sure if they would be good enough to last to the other island. He would simply have to brainstorm with Minho on that one. He put some more wood on the fire, and then laid down in the sand on his back and stretched before closing his eyes. He didn't have much else to do before Minho got back.

**************

Thomas was abruptly woken up by something hard hitting his stomach. He sat up way too quickly, and his vision blurred. When his body finally got back to normal, he looked down to see what had hit him. His eyes grew wide when he saw an axe lying in his lap. A movement in the corner of his eye made him turn his head. Minho sat down next to him, with a grumpy expression. 

"I've been out working my butt off, and you're just sleeping. Not fair, shuckface." he muttered and kept his grumpy expression, but Thomas saw the glint in his eyes that told him that he wasn't serious.

"Well, life ain't fair, buddy." he replied while he got on his feet. He clapped Minho on the shoulder when he walked past him to get the fish. He brought it to the fire on a stick so they could put it on the fire. When Minho saw it, he arched his eyebrows in a slightly impressed expression.

"At least you didn't sleep _all_ the time away." he commented, and Thomas could tell that he was actually pleased with their lunch. Thomas sat back down in the sand.

"I can go chop down some trees when we've eaten if that makes you happier." he said, and Minho smirked.

"That would make me _very_ happy. Then I can take a nap." he replied and Thomas rolled his eyes before grinning.

"As long as you get us dinner." he remarked, and then they grew quiet. Thomas was glad he wasn't alone. He was never going to admit it out loud, but he knew he would have given in to hopelessness if he was alone. And Minho was great company, but Thomas knew he would be insufferable if he told him that. He just hoped they would find their other friends, preferably alive.

The fish was starting to get a bit crispy when they decided that it was done. They simply ripped pieces off and stuffed their mouths. They weren't exactly at a five-star restaurant. The fish was better than Thomas had thought, and it almost felt as if they were celebrating something with an expensive dinner. They finally had a plan on how to get away, so he guessed that's what they celebrated. 

When everything was eaten, Minho fell back into the sand with a content sigh and his hands resting on his belly.

"Gotta give it to ya, shank, that was great. I'll catch something for dinner later." he said, and opened one eye to look at Thomas. Thomas grabbed the homemade axe and stood up with a smirk.

"Good. And it's up to you to figure out how we should make paddles for the shucking thing." he said and to his surprise, Minho nodded.

"Good that." was all he said, and Thomas walked away with a slight grin. He had thought Minho would protest, but he wasn't going to complain that he didn't. He stopped by an almond tree they had discovered yesterday, and picked a few almonds before taking the path leading to the jungle.

**************

The satisfaction Thomas felt when the first tree fell to the ground was greater than almost everything he had ever felt. He had chopped down a tree, on a deserted island, with an axe made out of a big seashell, vines and a piece of wood. That had to be something to brag about. But he knew he had to get at least six more, so he went on to the next one. It was hard work, but it was bearable. The really hard part would be to get them to the beach. But he decided to worry about that later, and focus on the task at hand. He also kept an eye out for spiders and snakes. He was quite fascinated by reptiles, and he could easily handle the small spiders at home. That didn't mean that he was very excited about meeting wild and poisonous animals of either species. 

It took him about five minutes to chop down each tree, and when he had seven he decided to get them to the beach so he and Minho could decide together if they would need more. He grabbed one of the trees, and dragged it along with humidor his arm, holding the axe in the other hand. It was hard work, because the surface wasn't flat, and trees are actually heavy. By the time he had Minho within sight again, he was sweaty and panting. He was glad he'd left the shirt behind.

Minho was standing underneath one of the palm trees, looking up at it as if it would give him the answers to all the questions in existence. Apparently, he heard Thomas coming because he turned around, and smirked at the sight of the exhausted Thomas.

"Serves you right." he teased, and Thomas just rolled his eyes before putting both the axe and the tree down. Then he turned around and went back into the jungle. This time he could take two trees with him, so he did just that. He put those down next to the first one and went to get two more, and then he got the last two. When he had put them down, he sank into the sand and stretched. He was not going to move anytime soon.

"I think that will be enough." he heard Minho say. He simply gave a slight nod. Minho continued.

"I made some simple paddles, that should be enough to get us to the island at least. I'll go cut down some more vines while you rest that tired body of yours. I'll be back soon." he said, and Thomas gave another nod and heard Minho's steps fade away. He let out a sigh. He was _tired._ He was way more exhausted than he should have been, but he guessed that their island-diet could take some of the blame. He tried to relax, and soon he was asleep again.

**************

"Man, you can sleep." Minho said and woke Thomas up again. Minho gave him a judgmental look before throwing some vines on the ground.

"Seriously, we should get you checked when we get back home. It can't be healthy, sleeping as much as you do." he continued, and Thomas wasn't really awake enough to come up with a snarky comeback. Minho laughed as he realized just that and ruffled Thomas' hair.

"I'll go catch us some dinner. Could you be a dear and figure out how to tie your trees together." Minho said, and it was more of an order than a question. Thomas didn't mind though. He already had an idea how to do it, and it wouldn't be too much hard work. He didn't even get to reply before Minho was walking away to get one of the spears. Thomas shrugged and stood up. He picked up one of the vines, and was happy to see that Minho seemed to have thought about the length, too, and not just the amount of them. He rolled the trees as close to each other as possible. He also made sure they were lying as symmetrical as they could. Then he gotten of the vines, and started at the tree that was the furthest to the right. He put the vine over that tree, and then he pulled it underneath the next one, and over the one after that. He kept that pattern up until he got to the seventh tree. He put the vine over that tree, and then pulled it underneath it, too, and made his way back to where he had started, repeating the pattern the other way around. When he got back, he tied the ends together and went to get another vine.

After doing the same thing with a total of eight vines, he considered himself done tying the trees together. Of course there were now spaces between each tree where the vines had to go in-between them. He went closer to the fire, where he spotted the knife. He grabbed it and climbed up in one of the palm trees. His body was aching, but he wanted to get the thing done tonight. He cut down a few fronds, and then he slid down and moved on to the next tree.

When he had a huge pile of palm fronds, he went back to the raft, and started stuffing the spaces. He packed them as full as he possibly could, and where the fronds weren't enough he filled up the rest with grass. He looked up to locate Minho, and saw that his friend was still trying to catch fish for them. Thomas decided that he might as well do a bit more work while he waited, so he went to cut down more banana leafs. He collected a huge pile of them, and then carefully put them on top of the raft so that they covered each other a bit, like scales, to give extra protection from water. When he was done, he stood back and admired his work. He was quite proud of himself. Sure, it wasn't the most beautiful thing he'd seen, but he had _built a raft,_ and hopefully it would work, too. He went back to the fire, stretching his back out as he walked. He sat down by the fire and simply waited for Minho to get out of the water.

Five minutes later, Minho handed Thomas a fish to put over the fire. They were both tired, so they didn't talk much while they ate. Thomas realized the sun was setting, and it was absolutely spectacular. Everything looked slightly orange, except for the clouds that were pink. And the ocean was both orange, and a shade of dark blue that almost looked black. Everything felt som warm and welcoming, and Thomas thought to himself that this was how he imagined Paradise to look. 

When they had finished their fish, they cut up a mango in pieces that they put in two halves of a coconut. They grabbed one "bowl" each, and Thomas also decided to put his shirt on. They both turned their backs to the fire as they sat next to each other in silence, watching the sunset and eating fruit. Thomas thought he saw something move, but decided to not get his hopes up. It might be an animal, if he had seen anything at all.

"Should we try the raft to see if it floats before we tuck it in for the night?" Minho asked when they were done, and Thomas nodded. Minho stood up and held out a hand to help Thomas get on his feet. Thomas accepted it and let himself get pulled up by his friend. They worked together to get the raft into the water, and Thomas couldn't help but letting out a pleased noise when the raft actually did float. They pushed it further out, until the water was at knee-level. Then they tried to get on it to see if it could carry their weight.

It could! 

Minho let out a quiet shout and high-fived Thomas. They were both smiling like idiots. Thomas was very happy and _very_ proud. He had made a raft that worked! And tomorrow they could get to that other island to search for their friends! 

They went back to the shore, taking the raft with them. They pushed it pretty far up on the beach, and Minho put an arm around Thomas' shoulders as they returned to the fire.

"I never thought you would be good for anything! Congratulations!" he exclaimed, and Thomas smacked him on the top of his head. Minho laughed as he laid down in the sand. Thomas just smiled like the dork he was.

"Let's go get our friends tomorrow, eh?" Minho said, and Thomas nodded.

"Sleep well. I'm proud of ya, my son." Minho said with an overly adult voice, and Thomas snorted as he closed his eyes. He was more exhausted than he could remember he had ever been, so he fell asleep quickly even though he was excited about the next day.


	3. Across the Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I won't be able to update for about a week, because I'm going to be very busy with friends and going on a trip with my classmates. I will get back home next Thursday again, So I hope to get the time to update then, or at lest during the weekend.  
> Enjoy this chapter until then! ^^

Thomas woke up to Minho shaking him.

"Sun's rising. Come on, I've made breakfast. I want to get going as soon as possible." he said before Thomas had even opened his eyes completely. Thomas groaned and closed them again. Apparently, Minho wasn't having any of that today. He grabbed Thomas by the arms and pulled him up to a sitting position.

"Wake up, or I'm going to throw you into the fire." he said, and Thomas knew he was kidding, but he opened his eyes again anyways. They should get going as soon as possible, Minho was right about that. Minho nodded approvingly at him with a slight smirk and handed him a grilled fish.

"That's my boy." he said before starting to chew on his own breakfast. It was too early for Thomas to react to that. He was excited though. Maybe they would find more of their friends today! That was actually one of the few things he considered worth getting up early for. Searching for his friends and pizza. And the few day when he was doing something fun. Those were the only things worth getting up early for, in his opinion. Minho usually got up early almost every day to go for a run or something, although that wasn't needed here. 

They finished the food, and then tried to decide what they should bring with them. Thomas decided that as much firewood as possible would be essential, as well as the axe. Minho agreed and pointed out that they might as well bring their food and spears with them too, in case they would need it. They loaded the raft and then Minho got up on it, sitting in the middle, while Thomas pushed it out into the water. When the water had reached the middle of his thigh, he gripped the edge tighter and lifted himself onto the raft. Minho handed him one of the paddles, and they started making their way to the second island.

It was harder than Thomas had thought, because there was quite a few underwater currents that sometimes brought the raft along with it for a while, and the island was further away than it had seemed. They didn't talk much, just focused on getting forward. The sun was starting to become annoying, and Thomas was sweating like he had worn full-body armor and not just shorts and a tee. He was glad Minho had made several paddles, because they didn't exactly have the best material, and they broke after a while. But they had a whole arsenal of them, so he was sure they would make it.

When his arms was starting to ache for real and every move was hard, he could finally see the sand at the bottom of the ocean. Minho seemed to notice the same thing.

"Not much left now. We'll probably be able to walk the rest of the way soon. Stretch our legs a bit." he said, and Thomas hummed in agreement. They paddled a few more feet, and then decided that they could begin to walk. They put the paddles aside, and dove into the water. When Thomas stood up, the water reached his chest. The water felt pretty nice and not as cold as he's expected. He joined Minho at the front of the raft. They pulled the raft with them as they slowly made their way to the beach. Thomas was a bit disappointed when no one was in sight, but told himself that they had a whole island to search and that he couldn't let his spirits drop yet. 

They stepped ashore, and pulled the raft a few feet further to make sure it wouldn't float away. As soon as they let it go, Minho dropped to the ground.

"Man, we better find Gally on this one so he can build a boat before we go the next." he sighed, sounding exhausted. Thomas didn't blame him, he was tired too, but he had to at least search nearby before he could rest. He threw Minho some fruit, and then went to look around the beach for signs of life. It sort of looked like the beach where he had found Minho, but in a smaller scale. There was one path leading to what seemed to be a jungle, but there were cliffs hiding it. There was also a path next to a cliff on the beach, so Thomas decided to check that out first. 

He was almost disappointed to find out that it was just a dead end, but when he found soybeans, peppers and pineapples he felt a tiny bit happier. It would be great to get some variation on the food. He returned to the beach, where Minho was now sitting on the ground and eating a papaya. Thomas smiled a bit and then went to follow the other path. This one also went in-between two cliffs, just as the one on their old island. This one was a bit wider, though, so more than one person could walk there at a time.

This jungle felt smaller than the one back on the first island, and it only had one path which led to a cave. Thomas took a look around, and saw something move close to a tree of grapefruit. He couldn't quite make out what it was, so he moved closer. He saw black hair, and then the thing attacked him. Well... it hugged him.

"Tom! Thank God!" 

It was Teresa. It was her, and she was perfectly alive! Thomas hugged her back, and they held each other tightly for a long while.

"I thought you were dead!" she finally said when they let go, and he laughed.

"Takes more than that for you to get rid of me." he joked and she flashed him a smile. 

"Just wait until Aris hears about this." she said, and Thomas almost felt light headed. Aris? Had she just said Aris?

"Aris?" he asked. "Is he alive too?"

"Yeah! He's taking a closer look at the cave right now." she replied, with a huge smile. Thomas decided to go check the cave, too.

"Go to the beach, I'm sure Minho would appreciate some company. I wanna check this cave out myself." he said, and he didn't know how it was possible, but Teresa smiled even wider.

"Minho? You found him too?" she asked, a trace of utter disbelief in her voice. He nodded and felt a huge smile appear on his own face.

"Yeah. He's probably still eating." he said and she hugged him quickly again before turning around to go to the beach. Thomas turned to the cave. He made his way to it, careful to look out for animals he wouldn't want to step on or get in his face. The cave looked big, and he didn't think twice before entering. He walked through a dark tunnel for a while, before he got to the actual cave. It was gigantic! There were small ponds scattered here and there, and he spotted what looked like a door. The roof was high, and the whole place was dark and cool. It was pretty, but the place still gave him the creeps. He looked around, and saw a slanting wall where some light came in from above somewhere. And bu the wall, he saw Aris.

The boy still hadn't noticed him, but Thomas made his way to him without saying a word. He was just about eight-or-so feet away, when he stepped on a pebble and Aris turned around, startled. The look of panic was quickly replaced by surprise.

"Thomas?" he asked, and Thomas nodded with a smile.

"I believe that's me, yes." he said, and Aris rolled his eyes but wore a smile that lessened the effect of the sarcastic move.

"Glad you're alive. Found anyone else?" he asked, and Thomas nodded again.

"Yeah, Minho." he replied, and Aris smiled a tiny bit wider. 

"That's great. Have a look at this." he continued, and gestured toward the wall. Thomas moved closer to study it.

"What do you think? Is it possible to get up there? It looks like there's another jungle or something, and we should search for more survivors." Aris said, and Thomas nodded. Aris was right. Thomas could see something that looked like a bush or a tree. He turned his gaze to the wall, and saw lots of places where you could put your feet and hands. He knew for sure he and Minho could do it, and he was pretty sure the other two could, too.

"It doesn't seem too hard to get up there. I think we should give it a try tomorrow. But I say we get back to the beach for now and get something to eat. I'm starving." Thomas said, and got a laugh out of Aris.

"Me too, man." came the reply, and then they made their way out of the cave and back to the beach. 

**************

When they got there, both Teresa and Minho were standing in the water with raised spears. Aris raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it. Thomas went to pick up the firewood from the raft, and Aris helped him. Thomas looked for the best place to have their fire, and went to start it at one corner of the beach where they could lean against palm trees without having to leave the warmth from the fire. He and Aris worked together to get the fire started, and it didn't take that long. Once the flames where high enough to handle themselves, Aris leaned back against one of the trees with a satisfied smile.

"First time since the storm I've felt warmth. I mean, I'm not complaining about getting stuck with Teresa, but it would have been great to be stranded with Rachel." he mumbled, so quiet that Thomas wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or Thomas. He decided to just lie down in the sand and not answer. They waited for Minho and Teresa in silence, and Thomas actually drifted off.

"Hey, Sleepyhead! Wake up!" Minho shouted after what felt like just five minutes, but seemed to be more since the sun was actually setting. Thomas sat up and stretched with a yawn. Minho stared at him with a look of utter disbelief and shook his head.

"I don't know how you do it, man. We should give you to some scientists when we get back so they can find the one place where you can't fall asleep." he muttered, and Thomas flashed him a grin.

"Have to get my beauty sleep." he said and Minho raised one of his eyebrows.

"Then you have to sleep even more, 'cause I'm not seeing any beauty in your face." he deadpanned as he handed Thomas a fish to grill over the fire. It seemed like Teresa and Aris hadn't eaten anything but fruit these past few days, because they completely _devoured_ their fish, in record time. 

When they were all finished they sat back, all full and warm. That was all they could ask for at the moment.

"I hope we find Gally soon." Thomas muttered, mostly to himself.

"And Newt." Minho said.

"And Rachel." Aris mumbled.

"Don't forget Brenda." Teresa yawned.

They all decided that they would need to get some sleep if they were going to explore the jungle outside the cave tomorrow, and said goodnight. Thomas closed his eyes, and felt almost at peace. They had found two more of their friends, so now half of their group was together. He hoped the others would last a few more days, but he was sure they would. Gally, Newt, Rachel and Brenda were the real survival experts of them all. They would probably have their own farms or something when they found them. With that thought, Thomas fell asleep.


	4. The Plains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update, and that it's so short! It's just pretty much in school atm, and I'm pretty tired too. But I hope it doesn't disappoint too much.  
> Enjoy! ^^

Thomas looked at the wall, studying it. There were lots of places where they could put their feet or grab a hold on the stone. He just had to find the easiest way up. Next to him, Minho stood and did the same thing. Teresa and Aris were behind them, letting the athletes work their magic. Minho poked at Thomas shoulder and then pointed out a way that went almost straight up. Thomas nodded. He had been thinking of that one himself. Minho turned to the others.

"Alright. Me and Thomas will go up first, and if we find some vines or something we'll help you out, otherwise we'll tell you to get your butts up there yourselves." he told them, and Thomas just nodded. Then they turned around to face the wall, and Minho gestured to Thomas to go first.

"Ladies first." he smirked and Thomas rolled his eyes, but did step forward. 

"Then you should go. But I'll go first to make sure it's safe for you." he deadpanned before starting to climb the wall. He climbed carefully, and it was relatively easy. He could hear Minho right behind him. The wall wasn't very high, so Thomas soon tumbled down on the ground of the jungle. He grunted when he hit it, and Minho landed right behind him. Thomas pushed himself to his feet and stretched his hand out to help Minho. Then he turned around to watch their surroundings.

They were indeed in a jungle, but it was way smaller than the other two. There did seem to be some new trees and bushes there though. Thomas got the knife out of his pocket and went to find a vine that would be long enough. He found one hanging from a tree, and decided to climb the tree to get as much as possible. He cut it down quite easily, and Minho caught it and went for the opening. Thomas climbed down a bit before simply jumping. He hit the ground quite hard, but not enough to bring him to his knees. He went to help Minho with the vine. They threw it down and grabbed a hold to it so Teresa could climb it without falling down. She did so easily, and then it was Aris' turn. 

When they were all up Minho took the lead and followed a clear path. Thomas looked around even more. He thought he spotted some new fruit of some sort, and there were beautiful flowers scattered around the ground. Soon they were out of the jungle, and on a sort of plain. It was huge, and across it went a small canyon caused by a river with a waterfall. Around the edges of the plain Thomas saw a whole lot of new food, like rice. _Rice? That's great!_ What he saw next through, was way better than anything else.

On the ground, by some sort of plants, sat Gally. Thomas was so happy to see him that he almost squealed like a girl, but stopped himself. Minho and Teresa wouldn't let him forget it if he did that. 

"Gally!" he shouted instead, and startled his friend. Gally jumped and turned around quickly. When he spotted them, his face was lit up by a huge smile. Thomas just couldn't help a smile of his own. Gally got to his feet and was right by them in just a few steps. He pulled Thomas into a hug, and then the others too. Then he looked like he couldn't believe they were there.

"You're really here. Thank God! How are you doing?" he asked and Thomas just now realized how much he had missed Gally. When they had finally gotten past the hostile part of their relationship, they did actually get along pretty well. 

"I think we're fine. Me and Thomas found these shanks just yesterday." Minho replied and Gally beamed at them.

"Glad you're here. I was just about to start talking to myself." Gally joked. They went to sit together on the ground, and that's when Thomas noticed the big problem.

"How are we going to get further?" he asked, and Minho looked like he had just been about to say the same thing.

"When I came here, I was by the river down there." Gally said and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "I climbed my way up here, and it shouldn't be too hard to get back down. Should be possible to climb up to the other side from there." he told them, and that sounded as an as good plan as any to Thomas. Aris nodded.

"Sounds pretty reasonable. But not today. I think we should just stay here today and take it easy, and continue tomorrow." he said, and Gally nodded furiously.

"Yeah. It's steep, so we'll be exhausted when we're finally up." he said, and they simply laid back on the ground, all four of them. Gally rolled his eyes at them with a slight smile. Thomas closed his eyes, and just then realized that maybe Minho was right about how much he slept. Then he realized that he didn't care and fell asleep anyways.


End file.
